Speller not a semifinalist

May 30, 2013

Although she spelled both "realschule" and "idiochromatic" correctly, local spelling bee champ Iram Kingson was not among the 41 semifinalists who advanced to today's televised rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Kingson, a two-time champion of The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee, is an eighth-grader at Williamstown High School.

The preliminary rounds of the bee, held in Maryland, consist of a computer test and two rounds on stage. This year, a vocabulary component was added to the initial test. Students earn points from the test and the on-stage rounds, with their scores determining who advances to the semifinals. The semifinals will air on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. today, with the finals starting at 8 p.m. on ESPN.